Major Projects

Cultivated lettuce, Lactuca sativa, is one of the best-studied members of the family and therefore serves as a model for the family.  We have been developing genomic resources for Lactuca species within the lettuce genepool and related species in order to facilitate accessing useful genetic variation for lettuce improvement as well as studying genome evolution of this interesting family.

We are developing and applying molecular approaches for lettuce breeding.  Lettuce is amenable to classical and molecular genetic analyses. The generation time is usually three to five months, allowing multiple generations each year. We have generated ultra-high density genetic maps for several recombinant line (RIL) populations that have been distributed to the lettuce genetics community. 

In collaboration with other labs at UC Davis, the Michelmore Lab investigates pistachio loci associated with vigor, precocity, and sex.